brown Archives

January 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

January 14, 2026

Ten years ago, her friends invited her for the weekend. A bit of bird-watching, sitting on the veranda... Just a relaxing time in a warm climate with people she loves...

After spending so much time admiring these birds, she decided to take her wardrobe very much in this direction - with the addition of the snappy red accent!

Well, her relationship with birds has taken on a whole new meaning! First thing - when she left her morally bankrupt corporate job, she almost immediately found a position helping coordinate worldwide bird censuses.

It requires both a knowledge of data base administration, and bird species! Who ever knew that SQL and birds could co-exist?

She does get to travel from time to ... View the Post

January 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Spirit of Autumn by Albert Pinkham Ryder

January 12, 2026

She's a professional listener...

She doesn't want to be invisible - that would be creepy! But she does want to appear warm, unobtrusive and comfortable. Her clients will speak more freely if she doesn't look as if she's going to rip off their head...

So she chose this most calm and reflective of paintings, and an assortment of colors from brown to bone, with accents of rust and a pretty greenish-blue that matches her eyes:

She started building her new work wardrobe with the most classic of ivory and brown, but in soft textures of cabled cashmere and corduroy:

She knows that finding her favorite green is going to be difficult, so she has to jump on anything she finds that suits. And although the ... View the Post

January 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Winter Cottonwoods by Georgia O’Keeffe

January 7, 2026

A surprise painting that I snuck in on everyone - almost including myself!

But I always want to include the wardrobe visions of those among us who have a desire for their wardrobe to remain in the background - subtle, nuanced, and quiet...

Her color palette might change in proportion - she's feeling like she may want more grey, and ease back on the gold/yellow. These things are a work in progress, NOT a rule!

She's know what career she wanted ever since she was a small child, and watched people digging up her favorite flowers from her front yard - what's wrong with dandelions?

And she's been fully focused on her desire to redeem the reputation of native plants for pretty much her entire life; her ... View the Post

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

December 8, 2025

The last day of the last painting! Unless, of course, I revisit these and analyze them a bit...

She had enough clothes - more than enough, as do we all. But she was really hankering after some more brown. There's something about wearing brown - especially with black - that's different from anything else she had ever worn...

Her wardrobe is all set, for now...

Our heroine would still really love to have a brown and black scarf, and you can easily see how useful it would be for her. But she has to find the right one!

Our heroine had a lengthy internal conversation around the purchase of brown shoes and a brown bag. Normally, she would keep her leather accessories to black, beige, or a metallic. ... View the Post

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

December 5, 2025

Okay, if I wanted to start a new and different wardrobe, THIS would be my choice... Until I get to the next wardrobe!

But this is such a great painting...

I can't believe that this heroine doesn't yet have an ivory cardigan!

And I would love to have found a navy two-piece dress for her, but I think that maybe the dark-wash denim skirt will be more useful; what do you think?

There's something to be learned here; even if your favorite wardrobe color(s) are easy to find in stores, you still don't always see exactly what you have in mind! This puts you in a pretty clear situation: do you need SOMETHING to fill a certain role, or can you wait? I suspect that many of us can wait...

How that we have all ... View the Post

Want a Complete Capsule Wardrobe? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 21, 2025

After all of this traveling, our heroine is starting to realize that she has a LOT more clothing than she needs. She's already quite disciplined, in that she makes all of her purchases within this color palette:

Our heroine's first trip this fall was to see her alma mater play women's basketball:

Her second trip was to an office that she'd never visited before! It's always a challenge to pack for these kinds of unknowns...

Her third trip was also for work. For many of us, the majority of our travel is for work - at least mine was, for years! It gets to the point that if you're in the office for too long, you feel like something's gone wrong.

And her final trip this year was for the THREE ... View the Post

Want to Pack Only Neutrals? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 19, 2025

Our last travel capsule wardrobe for this heroine - although I am going to accumulate all of her wardrobes together on Friday to see where she finds herself, clothing-wise. I may even see some additions that she could use...

Here's the painting with which she always starts her planning:

Her overall wardrobe palette includes four core colors:

Her recent numerous travel adventures have included travel capsule wardrobes based on these four related, but all slightly different, palettes:

A Dressy Long Weekend It happens every few years - ALL of the work-related holiday parties to which they are invited fall within a few days of each other!

Their solution is to find a hotel room that's centrally ... View the Post

Want to Pack Dark Colors? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 14, 2025

Monday's heroine has to travel for business - it's surprising to me how many people STILL have to show up in person, press the proverbial flesh, and breathe the same air as the people from another office...

But of course, sometimes the in-person touch is essential. You hear the whispers in the ladies room, and glances from the corner of the room in a meeting, the strange phobias about using a particular printer - office life is weird and can be illuminating!

Her inspiration? This fascinating piece:

Her "master" color palette includes four neutrals; she does include the other colors in the painting in her wardrobe, in tiny amounts - there's a whole range of interesting beige to greenish bronze ... View the Post

Ready for Leafy Autumn Colors? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 12, 2025

Another heroine who is going to experiment with her neutral colors, to try to change the... feel? the mood? of her travel capsule wardrobes by omitting one of her neutral colors. Let's see how this works!

First up is her wardrobe inspiration, by an artist with a name that CAN'T be typed quickly:

The core of our heroine's wardrobe is black and ivory, with definite accents of brown and rust...

After getting dressed with mostly these colors for years and years, our heroine realized that she can take one color out of her four-color palette and have FOUR new, smaller color schemes:

Women's Basketball Home Opener! She and many of her friends played basketball when they were in college; it was VERY ... View the Post

November 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

November 10, 2025

Our last installment for this month - one of my favorite paintings!

This heroine gave some serious thought to what her holiday seasons promises to bring, and came to the conclusion that silky pants and a pretty blouse will be more than adequate for her festive needs. A couple of cardigans that can be dressed up, and some fun star and moon accessories, finish up her November shopping:

please note that "silky" does NOT equal "silk." Neither does "satin." There's a lot of... confusing clothing descriptions in the world...

When she brings home her new things, she finds that everything blends in pretty much perfectly! There is always that satisfaction when you are disciplined with your ... View the Post

November 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4: Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

November 6, 2025 Breaking the Rules - Sometimes You Just Want To! Our heroine has this lovely painting to inspire her wardrobe choices:

Our heroine needs a dressy outfit for a VERY special occasion. She looked and looked at her "usual" colors - especially teal. But she came back, and back again, to these two (very expensive!) pieces in sequined taupish brown. And she finally caved...

Now, her wardrobe doesn't look a lot different, except she now has these two sequined garments that sort of stick out...

As always, are we smitten with her jewelry and scarves?

The shoes and bag that she bought for her event don't really blend in with everything else. This is okay; imagine the flats and bag worn with denim, or with ... View the Post

Can’t Live Without Denim? Start With Art – Prunus by Kees van Dongen

October 31, 2025

One last tour through the potential of "The Four T's" in dark chocolate brown, starting today with this lovely painting:

There's no way I will be able to match this blue exactly, so I'm just going to work with a soft, faded denim/chambray...

There's a little bit of pink in this painting; would this be a good piece of art to include in next year's "Six Paintings"?

First off, let's not forget our core of brown clothes and accessories:

The simplest four garments in denim blue - I was pretty thrilled to find both the sweater and tee shirt!

And finally three tops in ivory!

And of course, I'm going to find some accessories!

Now, our heroine's wardrobe looks VERY different than it ... View the Post